Spin on my Mama's Brisket

Love beef but find it a bit pricey these days? Try a cut of beef that isn't quite as well known as say the Tenderloin or the Striploin... or the default dinner-in-a-pinch lean mean ground beef!

Here's what I learned during my time working in THE best butcher shop in Ottawa, The Manotick Village Butcher.

Brisket is a wonderful dinner option. Brisket is one of the nine primal cuts located on the lower breast or chest area of the cow. It is comprised of the superficial and deep pectoral muscles. Cows do not have collar bones so these front muscles are extremely important in supporting the cows weight while standing and movin' around grazin'. Because so much weight is placed on these muscles, the brisket contains lots of connective tissue and tends to be a very tough cut of meat. Long, slow cooking is required to break down these connective tissues and leave a mouth-watering, fall-apart-on-your-fork meal.

SO get out your crock pots folks, and prepare thyselves for one doozy of a dinner.. You can either prep this dinner and toss it in the crock pot before you go to work, or even before you go to bed.

You will need:

* 4lb brisket "flat cut" or "first cut" with a nice 1/4 inch fat cap still on it.

* 4-5 nice sized carrots cubed

* 4 onions halved and sliced

* 4 large, I said LARGE potatoes 1/2 inch cubes

* 1 lb button mushrooms cut in half, stems are ok

* 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

* 2 Tbsp brown sugar

* 1 Tbsp tomato paste

* 2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

* 3 sprigs of fresh thyme

* 1/2 cup dry red wine

* 1 tsp chipotle powder or canned chipotles in adobo sauce finely mushed up

* 3 cups low sodium beef broth

* 1 heaping tsp dijon mustard (pommery would do well also) 

* 1/8 cup low sodium soy sauce

* 1/4 cup strong black coffee

* 1/2 ounce semi-sweet chocolate (half a brick of 'Bakers' chocolate will do)

Score the top (fat side) of the brisket in a diamond pattern, try not to cut the meat and season well with salt and pepper and let sit for half hour.  Once brisket has sat for the half hour  seared it off to get a nice dark colour.

Place the onions on the bottom of the crock pot. Place the seared brisket on top, fat cap facing up. Any drippings from searing the brisket go in too. Mix the beef broth, brown sugar, tomato paste, wine, chipotle powder, soy sauce, coffee, pepper and garlic and pour over the brisket. Cook for about 4 hours on high heat. After 4 hours add the carrots and potatoes. Let cook for another hour then add mushrooms. Cook for another 45 minutes. 

Here's the fun part... Pull out the brisket and set aside while nibbling the 'bits'. Strain the liquid, keeping all the veggies and strain off any excess fat. Reduce the liquid by half in a saucepan. You want the consistency to be, as the french say ' Nappé' or coats the back of a spoon. Taste for salt at this point. Reducing liquids concentrates flavours so I salt very little before.Take the sauce pan off the heat and whisk in 1/4 of a brick of bakers dark chocolate (semi-sweet is ok too but you may want to add less brown sugar- I actually used the PC 'The Decadent Dark Chocolate Chunks'~ about 8 little chunks)

MMMMMMMMMM good!!!